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America's best specialty food festivals

Each Labor Day Weekend the Chile Capital of the World - Hatch, N.M. - hosts the Hatch Chile Festival to celebrate New Mexico's most beloved foodstuff. Visitors to this seventh place winner enjoy a parade, cook-off, crowning of the festival queen and tongue-tingling bites of traditional green and red chile recipes.

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America's best specialty food festivals

Each Labor Day Weekend the Chile Capital of the World - Hatch, N.M. - hosts the Hatch Chile Festival to celebrate New Mexico's most beloved foodstuff. Visitors to this seventh place winner enjoy a parade, cook-off, crowning of the festival queen and tongue-tingling bites of traditional green and red chile recipes. New Mexico Tourism & Travel

The remaining 10 food festivals earned nominations from our expert, but didn't get enough reader votes to land a spot in the top 10. April is Bacon Month, and in Chicago, that means BaconFest. Bacon lovers can feast their eyes and their taste buds on bacon-based and bacon-inspired foods and cocktails made by some of the country's top chefs and mixologists. Anne Petersen

The inviting small town of Bayfield, Wis., celebrates the autumn harvest during its annual Apple Festival in October, our fifth place winner. Visitors can tour orchards and sample apple treats -- tarts, pies, ciders and candied apples -- from 60 vendors, enjoy live music, and watch the Grand Parade march down historic Rittenhouse Avenue to Lake Superior. Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau

The Blueberry Festival in historic Bethlehem, Pa., is all about summertime fun. This July event, billed as the Sweetest Festival of the Summer, features homemade blueberry pies, strudels, coffee cakes and ice cream alongside local craft beer, mead and wine. Shellie Verbiest

In January 10,000 chocoholics from around the world pack the Oregon Convention Center to taste and learn about the newest and most notable chocolate products on the market. Besides sweet tastings, Portland's ninth place ChocolateFest also hosts cooking and mixology demos (chocolate martini anyone?), chocolate and wine pairing talks, and presentations on the chocolate-making process and health benefits of cocoa. Getty Images/iStockphoto

In early spring the Sunshine State welcomes visitors from around the world to the Florida Strawberry Festival. Events include the crowning of the Strawberry Queen, a flea market, free live music, strawberry stemming contests and live talks with local strawberry growers. Strawberry shortcake headlines the food offerings. Florida Strawberry Festival

Bring your breath mints, because the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, Calif., each July serves up garlic-flavored variations of pretty much every food imaginable, including free garlic ice cream. At the heart of the summer festival sits Gourmet Alley and its famous "pyro chefs" who cook up a range of delicacies, including a few vampire-friendly, garlic-free options. Gilroy Welcome Center

The small New England town of Keene, N.H., becomes the pumpkin capital of the world for one day each October during the annual Keene Pumpkin Festival. Area schoolkids carve and decorate hundreds of pumpkins to form a towering wall of jack-o-lanterns, and vendors serve up plenty of fall treats, such as apple crisp and maple cotton candy. Tony Leps

Visitors to Key West over Fourth of July weekend can pucker up and sample an endless variety of key lime items during the annual Key Lime Festival. This summer favorite also gives lime lovers a look at the World's Largest Key Lime Pie - a 9-foot monstrosity that requires 6,480 key limes, 60 gallons of sweetened condensed milk, 46 pounds of brown sugar and 220 pounds of graham crackers. bonchan/iStock

The eighth place Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, Hawaii's oldest food festival, takes place on the Big Island each November and explores roughly two centuries of the region's coffee history. Events include the crowning of Miss Kona Coffee, Coffee Belt farm tours, live cultural performances, coffee tastings from 30 area farms, a coffee picking contest and panel discussions on the coffee-growing industry. Kona Coffee Festival

Fourth of July weekend brings the Lanai Pineapple Festival to the tiny island of Lanai in a grand celebration of Hawaii's most famous fruit. Food-centric festival offerings include a cooking contest and food booths, while other entertainment, like fireworks, games and a craft show, round out the schedule. Lanai Pineapple Festival

The free and family-friendly sixth place Louisiana Seafood Festival brings fresh Gulf seafood, famous chefs and lively local entertainment to New Orleans each October. The three-day event includes a pavilion tent for live celebrity chef demos, a kids' tent with activities from the Louisiana Children's Museum, an arts and crafts village, live music and vendors from around the state serving all variety of seafood treats. Louisiana Seafood Festival

Rounding out the top 10 is the Maine Lobster Festival, a quintessential Midcoast experience that welcomes thousands of lobster lovers each summer to get their hands dirty picking away at fresh steamed lobster. Also on the menu: lobster rolls, lobster wraps, lobster salads, steamed clams, crab cakes and fried seafood, all served alongside events like the sea goddess coronation, parade, cooking contest, live entertainment and a crafts market. Maine Lobster Festival

The two-day Mushroom Festival, our runner up for Best Specialty Food Festival, takes over Kennett Square, Pa., on the weekend after Labor Day. Visitors to the Mushroom Capital of the World can learn about how mushrooms are cultivated through farm tours and growing exhibits, taste mushroom-inspired culinary creations, enjoy family fun at an old-fashioned street carnival or participate in a variety of contests, like the National Fried Mushroom Eating Championship. The Mushroom Festival

In third place, Northern Michigan's biggest annual event - the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City - welcomes more than half a million people each July to celebrate all things cherry. Alongside cherry edibles, festival-goers will find a host of family-friendly entertainment and activities, including a parade, volleyball tournament, air show and live music on the bay. National Cherry Festival

The first week in March brings the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show to Albuquerque. This "Hottest Show on Earth" brings together the nation's largest collection of hot sauces, salsas, marinades, mustards and pretty much anything else that can be infused with a healthy dose of capsaicin. New Mexico Tourism & Travel

At the South Carolina Peach Festival in Gaffney, home of the iconic Peachoid water tower, festival-goers enjoy varied peach-centric programing ... everything from a barbecue cook-off and pageant to a peach-eating contest. This three-day salute to the state's peach industry takes place each July. Jandee Jones, Getty Images/iStockphoto

Arguably the country's top artisanal cheese state, Vermont plays host to the Annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival each July at Shelburne Farms. This single-day event offers an unparalleled chance to meet the state's best cheesemakers and taste their world-class products. Curious festival-goers can learn how to get started in home cheesemaking with a lineup of workshops and demos, all free with festival admission. Vermont Cheesemakers Festival

The "Most Delicious Day in Lancaster County" is the annual Whoopie Pie Festival in September, coming in at number four. The free festival, Pennsylvania Dutch Country's biggest annual party, lets visitors sample more than 100 flavors and varieties of the state's classic confection. Other events include eating contests, scavenger hunts, races, live music, a craft fair and the construction of the world's largest whoopie pie. Anne Faix, Hershey Farm